Egypt on Tuesday extended its presidential election to a third day in an apparent drive to raise voter turnout and avoid an embarrassingly meager show of support for former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Throughout the day, officials and supporters of el-Sissi, the expected winner, exhorted voters to go to the polls.
Scenes of empty polling stations drove el-Sissi supporters on the country’s TV stations to dismay and they were angry with Egyptians for not turning out.
Opponents said the turnout showed the depth of discontent with el-Sissi, not just among his foes but among a broader section of the public that says he has no solutions for the country’s woes and fears he will return Egypt to the autocratic ways of Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in 2011 after 29 years in power.
There has been little doubt that the 59-year-old el-Sissi would win over his sole opponent, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.
But he and his backers have sought a big victory to send a message to the West and his domestic opponents, that his ouster last summer of Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was not a coup but a popular revolution.
